The new Mac mini ships in a box that's about the same size around as the previous model, but much thinner. In fact, the new box is smaller than the box a lot of software media used to ship in.

Despite being a little more than an inch wider and deeper, Apple fits the new Mac mini into the same profile as the previous box by using a snug fit that packs the computer and its single AC power cable, documents, and an HDMI to DVI adapter with little room for dead air.

As detailed in Friday's first look new Mac mini is the same size around as Apple TV and Time Capsule, and like both of those earlier products, packs its power supply inside the case for a brick-free design.

Aimed at easy to use, appliance-like convenience

Also like Apple TV, the new mini trades away a custom mini-DVI port for HDMI, which supplies the same video output with additional support for audio, making the new Mac mini as living room-savvy as Apple TV (although it's considerably more expensive for such an application).

The new design also gives up one of the USB ports the former Mac mini offered, but provides a convenient SD Card slot in its place.

The new aluminum shell of the Mac mini creates a strong, precision design similar to the company's MacBook Pro lineup. It leaves previous Mac mini models feeling and looking plastic and cheap.

Easy to open

Functionally, the new design makes parts easier to access. Rather than having to peel way the rubber backing to access screws (like Apple TV) or use a putty knife to pop off the top case (like earlier minis), the new design uses a twist off plastic lid to expose access to RAM. Full access requires tools, but is still much easier to disassemble than previous minis.

I think the new mini looks nice. The price increase this time is probably strategic. That gives them two opportunities to drop the price by $50 instead of adding new features at the next upgrade cycle. Apple needs that space in case CPU/hard disk bumps are not cost effective for them around the time of the next upgrade cycle.

they're nice, yes. but you still have a full OSX Mac to maintain (and tweak). so the Mini remains a hobbyist's media center, not a consumer product.

just about everyone has figured out by now that what consumers really need is instead AppleTV running the iOS, plus putting iTunes in the cloud. but being stubborn, Jobs is just not going to unveil this until the annual September iPod refresh.

They could have made this tiny machine with out a milled shel for the case. Or simply made the top case milled with the bottom being a separate piece. That fact that they went this route convinces that they are planning to use this basic footprint design for other products. it's just seems too cost prohibitive not to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmcalpin

God, the new Mac mini is such a gorgeous piece of engineering. It's a shame Apple's steep profit margins have the whole thing priced nearly $200 higher than it really ought to be.

Do you think that Apple has increased its net profit by $100 over the last model and $200 since the first model or that the "gorgeous [...] engineering" may be somewhat responsible for the price increase?

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

I like this new Mini, probably won't buy one. I think it needs some more specialized software before you can call it an Apple TV replacement unless they want to count Boxee, but Apple really ought to do their own thing, and I hope they do soon - then a lot more people will be interested, myself included.

What I'd really like to see is HDMI on Mac laptops. All my friends will show videos they find on the internet to each other on the TV in the living room on their Windows Laptops with HDMI. That's BS, Macs should have that, too. Now that they've started releasing computers with HDMI I hope they spread the love.

Also, I know Apple doesn't want to compete on features since OS X is their main feature (and it's a big one), but HDMI, Blu ray and flash on the iPhone are useful and in demand. I hope they begin to move in this direction. My next laptop or computer wishlist is: Blu ray, HDMI, Open CL video card, Quad Core, and USB3 or light peak.

God, the new Mac mini is such a gorgeous piece of engineering. It's a shame Apple's steep profit margins have the whole thing priced nearly $200 higher than it really ought to be.

I'd buy it at that price if it had a Blu-ray drive. Unfortunately I doubt Apple will ever support Blu-ray. They don't even consider the addition of the HDMI port relevant to home theater use. They said they added it solely to increase the number of display options.

they're nice, yes. but you still have a full OSX Mac to maintain (and tweak). so the Mini remains a hobbyist's media center, not a consumer product.

just about everyone has figured out by now that what consumers really need is instead AppleTV running the iOS, plus putting iTunes in the cloud. but being stubborn, Jobs is just not going to unveil this until the annual September iPod refresh.

Who is this everyone you speak of? Apple will sell many many Minis - maybe not millions a year, but many. Many more than the AppleTVs that you suggest. Why do I think that? Because the Mini is a computer that can also be used connected to a TV. There will be a lot of Minis bought as computers. TV boxes are still niche products.

I'd buy it at that price if it had a Blu-ray drive. Unfortunately I doubt Apple will ever support Blu-ray. They don't even consider the addition of the HDMI port relevant to home theater use. They said they added it solely to increase the number of display options.

The HP EliteBook offers an ulta-slim Blu-ray player for $400 extra and the Sony Vaio Z offers it for $500 extra. Both of them are tray-loading drives.

So, how could Apple offer the entire Mac mini with a drive that costs even more than the upgrade option they offer for a price that is about 60-70% of the entire price of the item?

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

What I'd really like to see is HDMI on Mac laptops. All my friends will show videos they find on the internet to each other on the TV in the living room on their Windows Laptops with HDMI. That's BS, Macs should have that, too.

Can't you just carry around a selection of adapters? I thought that you could get an adapter for Apple's type of digital audio/video output(s) which goes to HDMI?

That's an expensive solution if you have a 2010 Mac with audio support over mini-DisplayPort. The best solution so far seems to be Moshi mDP-to-HDMI adapter for $35 on Apple's sites. Still pricey and expecting Monoprice to offer the proper cables and adapters any day now for a lot less.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

First of all, the mini is incredibly more adaptable and useful than the Apple TV and the Time Capsule. To anyone who posted saying it's not useful or not what people need....shock.

For one, I have a Time Capsule. Use...very limited. Store some files, share some internet, use Time Machine.

I moved into an apartment that had a 42" tv on the wall....was I going to get an Apple TV just to try to get content onto the TV? no. What did I settle on? A PS3. Still have enough troubles with that.

What do I wish I had?? A Mac Mini as a home server, using Airport to deal out wireless internet, using the HDMI to play any movies and content on the TV, taking advantage of having a full Mac OS X install to run various server apps like SVN for my programming, etc.

Mac Mini is a pretty darn cool piece of hardware so don't diss it.

And no, they got this baby out too late, I'm not going to get one now.

God, the new Mac mini is such a gorgeous piece of engineering. It's a shame Apple's steep profit margins have the whole thing priced nearly $200 higher than it really ought to be.

I agreed with you the first day and the day after this was introduced. Thinking about it a little bit more I realized I could hook it to my HDTV and not bother to pay for a monitor. Then all I'd need is the wireless keyboard and magic mouse (will wait till a wireless one comes out). Definitely a bargain then. I believe the one year warranty is good enough to so I'd forgo that unlike what I did with the MacBook.

i'm not sure what is "convenient" about the location of this SD slot for a product that is designed to sit in a TV unit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by elroth

It's designed to be a computer. One of its peripheral uses is in a TV unit.

Even when being used as a computer, having the SD slot in the back is far from being "convenient".

Any of you have a device (camera, card reader, mac,...) with an SD slot? Try inserting a card with the slot facing away from you. Is it as easy as you thought? Now do it with important pictures on the card.
I can see a lot of SD cards getting scratched up or worse, broken in half.

Why don't the iMacs have a SD slot in the back?

No matter what type of media...movies, music, books, photos and web pages

look better and sound better on the Kindle Fire HD and HDX than any iPad

Then all I'd need is the wireless keyboard and magic mouse (will wait till a wireless one comes out). Definitely a bargain then. I believe the one year warranty is good enough to so I'd forgo that unlike what I did with the MacBook.

The magic mouse is only available as wireless, so there is no reason to wait.

I wonder if Apple will add HDMI inputs to their displays. Electrically, DVI and HDMI are identical. I got a simple adapter cable and can connect my MBP directly to my 60" HDTV's HDMI input.

Since HDMI handles hi-def video plus surround sound, it sounds like a worthy successor to DVI. Not so sure that it could replace USB 2 and FireWire 800 though. There doesn't seem to be any provision for "bus power" but it seems like throughput is very, very high.

Further down the road, Apple will probably go with wireless video connections to their displays with WiDi, or whatever it's called. Steve seems to hate wires, so that's got to be on the hardware team's to-do list.

All of this is a pointless exercise in regards to the Mini being a real home media center device and I'm sure Apple is fully aware of this. The mini is a computer. The Apple TV is the better solution. The problem for the Apple TV is content and not hardware. There simply was no reason for the average person to replace the Apple TV because it didn't replace anything.

Could it use a version of the iOS? Sure, but unless Apple manages to convince content owners that they can make as much money (or more) as they do now through a subscription service nothing will change.

But I cannot justify the price (more so as I am european so I'll pay way more than the US) for such a computer in my living room.
I currently own 1 iMac and 1 MacBook Pro, so having a third computer just to connect it to the TV seems a bit too much.

I own an AppleTV and it provides what I am looking for, although it desperately needs an update. Count me with the ones that long for an iOS powered AppleTV with AppStore, better codec support (or at least better HD support). I don't need/want a fully fledged computer in the living room.

A couple of things:
- the Front Row on OSX looks nothing like the one on the AppleTV which is much better for navigating from the TV.
- I don't want to have a mouse and keyboard for doing basic tasks such as watch a video
- to surf the internet I have a notebook, an iPhone and probably will get an iPad
- the price is really high

I might consider it if it gets an update on front row, and if the price decreases.

But the idea which floated around of having a device with apps, based on the iOS platform (very low energy consuption) tempted me a lot.

I don't think, however, that we will see an AppleTV update in september, particularly because the MacMini is clearly aimed at the living room as well, and the new design speaks about the fact Apple wants to push this device forward. Coupled with Job's statements at AllThingsDigital where he basically states AppleTV will continue to be a hobby.

Sad, I like that little device, would trade it for the Mini if it had an acceptable price tag, although, for a specific living room use, it has shortcomings.

if you already have new MacMini, let me ask about the noise hard drive & DVD player delivers.
Once I used previous MacMini under my TV in the leaving room it was quite annoying the noise and vibration it delivers as well as fan noise. Is it better now with new MacMini, is it silent?

What disappoints me the most is the price of the new Mini. I just bought a Mini (early 2009) and I'm glad I did before the price went up. While the speed boost isn't that great a difference between my Mini, the hd space would have been nice. But not for that price. In a recession, I think Apple made a mistake in raising the price. It will just add to the Windows fanbois in the media dinging Apple on their "boutique" pricing.

I really like this design. Everything is so solid, from the one-piece case to the big solid removal base. I have one and it just reeks quality.

The only things I don't like about it are the colour (in the pictures it looks like a beautiful silver, but in reality it is more of a metallic grey), and the logo (it is a bit too large and "enthusiastic"). But those things aren't really design, just facade. The actual design is beautiful.

I went to my local AppleStore yesterday to have a look at the new mac mini. They only had one unit on display and it was tucked away in the corner with no absolutely publicity. You would not have noticed they had just released a new model. I didn't see a single person look at it in contrast to the iPad which had packed crowds around it and has done every time I've been to the store. I think this says a lot about the future direction for Apple. I doubt the mac mini gets much love in Apple and is seen more as a necessity to appease certain market sectors such as education rather than a strategically important product in the Mac portfolio.

I think the new design is great. It is high quality, it looks good, it looks solid, and I would get one if (a) my three year old home computer (bulky and noisy as it is) wasn't just as fast, and (b) it didn't cost 50% more than my three year old home computer cost at the time (although I know that home-assembly does cut out the middleman and isn't directly comparable).

However I am hoping to talk work into getting one for me to replace my laptop with the broken screen that I have to use for all my work (with a 22" Dell low-end TN monitor).

And I expect that if Intel doesn't really improve the graphics to meet Apple's needs next year within Sandy Bridge, the next Mac Mini will be utilising an AMD Llano processor (quad-core with HD5570 graphics built-in) in next year's update. I'll get that. The GeForce 320M is nice (and makes Intel's Core i3/i5 offerings look lame), but it's only 48 shader cores, and Llano will have between 240 and 480 shader cores.

The HP EliteBook offers an ulta-slim Blu-ray player for $400 extra and the Sony Vaio Z offers it for $500 extra. Both of them are tray-loading drives.

So, how could Apple offer the entire Mac mini with a drive that costs even more than the upgrade option they offer for a price that is about 60-70% of the entire price of the item?

Not to mention that I'm not aware of ANY BR drive that's small enough to fit into the available space in the Mini.

Quote:

Originally Posted by elliots11

What I'd really like to see is HDMI on Mac laptops. All my friends will show videos they find on the internet to each other on the TV in the living room on their Windows Laptops with HDMI. That's BS, Macs should have that, too. Now that they've started releasing computers with HDMI I hope they spread the love.

If you really need that, adapters are available. Honestly, though, I can't imagine ever carrying my laptop to a friend's house to show videos on their TV, so it would be wasted expense for me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russell

Even when being used as a computer, having the SD slot in the back is far from being "convenient".

Any of you have a device (camera, card reader, mac,...) with an SD slot? Try inserting a card with the slot facing away from you. Is it as easy as you thought? Now do it with important pictures on the card.
I can see a lot of SD cards getting scratched up or worse, broken in half.

I agree that it's not convenient and it makes far more sense for it to be in the front, but I think suggesting that SD cards are going to be broken in half en masse is just a bit OTT.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nitewing98

What disappoints me the most is the price of the new Mini. I just bought a Mini (early 2009) and I'm glad I did before the price went up. While the speed boost isn't that great a difference between my Mini, the hd space would have been nice. But not for that price. In a recession, I think Apple made a mistake in raising the price. It will just add to the Windows fanbois in the media dinging Apple on their "boutique" pricing.

Now, I can see that those improvements might not be sufficient to encourage you to spend the money, but it's certainly enough that a $100 increase isn't terribly out of line for the target audience. If it's too much, people won't buy them and Apple will have to lower the price or drop the product.

Meanwhile, the older model is being discounted now, so all the people complaining about the price of the new one can get the old one even cheaper.

"I'm way over my head when it comes to technical issues like this"Gatorguy 5/31/13

What disappoints me the most is the price of the new Mini. I just bought a Mini (early 2009) and I'm glad I did before the price went up. While the speed boost isn't that great a difference between my Mini, the hd space would have been nice. But not for that price. In a recession, I think Apple made a mistake in raising the price. It will just add to the Windows fanbois in the media dinging Apple on their "boutique" pricing.

Apple hasn't raised the price. It has reduced the model offerings. Now there's one configuration. If one were to order that one configuration with 4 gigs of RAM, the price here in Canada would be $50 cheaper than the previous top model that came with 4 gigs. The processor is a little slower (2.4 vs. 2.53) but the graphics are significantly better. On balance you're getting comparable performance with a new form factor for $50 cheaper. Or, for a relatively modest price increase over the previous base model, you get a faster processor, better graphics and an improved form factor.

Take your pick but either way the Mini is not a poorer value now than it was a couple of weeks ago. Apple has eliminated a lower-cost variation but the basic value for the Mini remains intact.

Even when being used as a computer, having the SD slot in the back is far from being "convenient".

Any of you have a device (camera, card reader, mac,...) with an SD slot? Try inserting a card with the slot facing away from you. Is it as easy as you thought? Now do it with important pictures on the card.
I can see a lot of SD cards getting scratched up or worse, broken in half.

Why don't the iMacs have a SD slot in the back?

Convenience is relative. And in this case inserting an SD card in the back of a Mac Mini is more convenient than reading an SD card on the old model. That involved buying a separate SD card reader, and plugging it into the USB port on the back of the machine. All that before you can insert your SD card.

Not to mention that I'm not aware of ANY BR drive that's small enough to fit into the available space in the Mini.

If you really need that, adapters are available. Honestly, though, I can't imagine ever carrying my laptop to a friend's house to show videos on their TV, so it would be wasted expense for me.

During the design phase, likely the available space in the Mini was also being designed. My guess is that they made the case the proper size to hold the guts they chose.

Do you think they first designed the case and then chose guts that would fit inside?

Lots and lots of people plug their laptops into the TV using HDMI. In my home, my laptop, my kid's netbook and his friend's laptops (except Matt, who has a MBP) all get video plugged into HDMI regularly, and even more often they get plugged into the 5.1 channel sound system. Indeed, patching the music in while entertaining guests is a daily occurrence. (I regularly overhear stuff like "Hey dude, check out this sick beat!" )

The kids love how my system is set up to make it ultra-convenient to plug their laptops in and show stuff to the gang.

Matt laments the fact that his Mac is not equipped to join into the fun.